With the new profession stat systems we get profession tools, with various stats. Having extra tools to swap around is incredible, so let’s look at why.
Stats matter, a lot
It might not be immediately obvious, but having the right stats can be a huge difference-maker in terms of how profitable a given craft is. To know this you pretty much have to install an addon called CraftSim, that calculates the values of your crafting stats in terms of how they impact the average profit.
As an example we can see that for Plainsrunners Breeze every point of inspiration increases my average profit by 3g29s.
Inspiration vs. multicraft vs. resourcefulness
Generally speaking inspiration is usually the strongest stat for any craft where you can’t guarantee max quality. In some cases though, multicraft can be better even for inspiration builds, particularly if the q2 version is selling for close to material cost. Multicraft is almost always better than resourcefulness for stackable items, and resourcefulness is the best stat when crafting public orders, or non-stackable items where you can guarantee your desired quality.
Profession tool combos
There are two enchants for profession tools, you can choose between resourcefulness and inspiration, on top of the main stat on the tool itself. There are 4 variants that can be good, depending on what types of crafting you do.
Inspiration + inspiration for inspiration builds
Multicraft + inspiration for inspiration builds
Multicraft + resourcefulness for guaranteed quality stackable items
Resourcefulness + resourcefulness for Guaranteed quality non-stackables
What professions does this make sense?
Not every profession or every build can take advantage of multiple tools, but some of them can. For enchanting you might want an inspiration tool for the devotion weapon enchants, but you can reach guaranteed skill 3 for writ weapon enchants, which would make a double resourcefulness tool the best option.
Engineering is the absolute king of profession tool value, where I can currently get value out of all 4 tool combinations depending on what I’m crafting.
Use CraftSim
The CraftSim Top Gear model at the top right of the profession window will help you simulate and equip the best gear for any given recipe. As we can see here the average profit for Reinforced Machine Chassises goes from 91 silver to 66 gold by swapping to the right tool. Just Click Equip and you automatically equip the best gear for the job.
Save some gold
Getting ilvl 346 uncommon tools with a q2 enchant should not cost you more than about 1 000 gold per tool, so you can very easily get a couple of different tools to see if they imnpact the profit. Obviously craftSim will also tell you what the best stats are, so don’t bother getting a resourcefulness tool if it’s never the best tool for you.